Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Partners (BBIP) has reached an agreement to acquire entire issued share capital of Alkane Energy PLC.

Specifically, BBIP has agreed to pay 36 pence per share for AIM-listed Alkane Energy, a deal valuing the energy company at £61.4 million (US$95.3 million).

Alkane operates mid-sized 'gas to power' electricity plants providing both predictable and fast response capacity to the grid.  The firm has a total of 145 MW of installed generating capacity and an electricity grid capacity of 160 MW.

Adittionaly, it has various onshore Petroleum Exploration and Development Licences ('PEDLs') with its main operations based on a portfolio of coal mine methane ('CMM') sites.  Alkane's portfolio of CMM licences enables the company to extract gas from abandoned coal mines.

The directors of Alkane Energy said the transaction was "fair and reasonable" and intend to recommend the deal to its shareholders. According to sources, shareholders with 35.34% of Alkane have already agreed to accept the offer.

Rob Gregor, a managing partner at BBIP, said:

"Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Partners is attracted to the flexibility and diversification of generation provided by the independent power platform of Alkane. We see great opportunity in the business and believe BBIP is an excellent partner to support the next phase of Alkane's development, and thereby contribute to the security of the UK power supply."

Roger McDowell, Chairman of Alkane said:

"This Offer enables Alkane shareholders to realise value today in cash for their shares at a significant premium to the recent historical share price, which, in the board's view, has been impacted by negative sentiment towards the energy industry and continued regulatory scrutiny."

"BBIP have a well-respected track record in the infrastructure sector and as a patient investor, will be able to support the company's longer term growth ambitions, building on its current portfolio of baseload CMM generation and power response sites. We believe that the offer is a good outcome for all Alkane stakeholders."